Celluloid #55

In Home

the Circle (2000) Panahi - A group of women escape from prison for unnamed crimes. One is seeking an abortion, and they all run into numerous obstacles at every turn. Women are not allowed to travel or stay in hotels without the accompaniment of a man. A bleak portrait of fundamentalist Iran. 3.5/5

Hard Candy (2005) Slade - At first this movie seems like it was going down the path of an Internet predator taking advantage of a young girl. Instead the tables are turned a bit and could have ventured into Audition-like territory, but unfortunately has a heavy-handed agenda and takes itself way too seriously. It's stylish, but the dialogue is terrible. 2/5

Mysterious Object at Noon (2000) Weerasethakul - This Thai film takes inspiration from the Surrealist game "Exquisite Corpse," where one person begins telling a story and different people continue the story. This narrative happens to focus around a young crippled boy and his teacher, but the film itself often breaks the 4th Wall by showing the director, talking about shots, having characters break scene, etc. 3/5

Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) Sasanatieng - Another Thai film, but completely opposite in tone. Tears is full of saturated colors; and homage to technicolor and spaghetti westerns. At times, the set reminded me of "Pee Wee's Playhouse." Basically a silly, cartoonish love story about childhood friends who promise to wait for one another. The girl is upper class and her father wants to marry her off. The boy is from a lower class has to resort to a life as a gunslinger after his father dies. Hilarious the amount of times the girl needs to be saved. 4/5